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Excel - Create A Timestamp In Excel - Episode 1106

2,369 views · Published 22 September 2009 · 1:46 · Indexed 30 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Add a timestamp to a cell in Excel.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! In today's episode, we have a great tip sent in by David from Australia. I may have shown this before, but it's definitely worth repeating because it's such a cool little trick. So let's dive right in!

Have you ever used the function =now() in Excel? It's a handy function that automatically inserts the current date and time into a cell. But what if you only need the current date and not the time? That's where the function =today() comes in. It works just like =now(), but without the time component. This is useful when you want to calculate something based on the current date, but don't want it to change as you make updates to your spreadsheet.

But what if you want a date and time that will never change, even if you make changes to your spreadsheet? Well, David has a couple of cool tricks for that. The first one is to simply press Ctrl+; and it will insert the current timestamp into the cell. But here's the real gem - if you press Ctrl+; and then immediately press Ctrl+Shift+;, it will give you a timestamp that will never change. This is perfect for tracking when certain data was entered into your spreadsheet.

To help you remember this shortcut, just think of the colon in the time format. Ctrl+; for time, and Ctrl+Shift+; for date. It's a simple yet powerful trick that can save you time and effort in your Excel work. Thank you, David, for sending in this question and thank you for tuning in to another netcast from MrExcel. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more Excel tips and tricks. See you next time!

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction by Bill Jelen
(00:14) Tip from David in Australia
(00:24) Using the Now function
(00:34) The Today function
(00:44) Creating a permanent date and time
(00:57) Using Ctrl+; for current timestamp
(01:07) Using Ctrl+; and Ctrl+Shift+; for timestamp
(01:17) Remembering the shortcut
(01:27) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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David from Australia sends in a cool trick for adding a timestamp to a spreadsheet. Episode 1106 shows you how.Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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